Unfortunately, there are numerous instances in which prescription medication is misused with harmful and often fatal results. Misuse may involve a variety of different factors, such as taking the correct medication in an improper manner, at an incorrect time schedule and/or at an incorrect time with respect to meals, as well as taking the incorrect medication resulting from similarities between the shape, size, name and/or color of different medication and the bottles or containers in which different medications are dispensed.
Medication misuse often involves people, e.g., elderly people, who have difficulty reading and/or understanding the directions for using a particular medication. For example, it is known that Cardizem CD™, a prescription medication for blood pressure control, must be swallowed whole in order to be effective. This fact is indicated on the label that accompanies dispensation of the medication. However, elderly people may experience problems swallowing a large capsule and therefore might resort to breaking the capsule into smaller parts or chewing the capsule. This negates the pharmacological effects of the medication so that even though the patient is taking the medication, the desired control of the blood pressure is not being obtained in view of the misuse of the medication.
In the U.S., almost as much money is spent addressing the complications caused by home medication errors as is spent purchasing all the medications dispensed. Three years ago, almost $76 billion a year was spent purchasing medications in the U.S. while another $76 billion was spent treating medication errors including, but not limited to, errors caused by complications experienced by individuals as a result of misunderstandings in taking their medications. The cost of home medication increases ($180 billion+) when the costs to an employer for absenteeism, on-the-job injuries, etc. are included. Home medication errors are a national public health issue that is harming patients and the health care system, as well as the productivity of the U.S.
When a person is non-adherent, i.e., does not follow the proper instructions for taking medication, the cost of the treatment increases for both the consumer and the health care insurance provider. The wise use of prescription drugs can save lives. Prescription drugs should not be causing such high rates of medical complications and deaths as a result of people not being adequately informed. Home medication errors made by patients are linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths a year and cost this country nearly $180 billion in extra medical treatments.
In an attempt to avoid such misuse, accurate and detailed information is typically provided on labels affixed by a pharmacist to containers of prescription medication specifying the exact manner in which the prescription medication should be used.
Each pharmacy typically has its own label design that may be tailored to its specific needs as well as designed to be in compliance with any regulatory or statutory requirements. The label provides the prescription user with instructions and other necessary information to avoid misunderstandings that could lead to misuse of the medication. The information typically contained on the label includes the name, address and telephone number of the pharmacy, a prescription number, a date on which the prescription is prepared, an expiration date of the prescribed medication, the patient's name and address, the dosage and time schedule (e.g., 2 tablets every four hours), the prescribing doctor's name, the number of permissible refills, if any, the name of the medication, the number of capsules or tablets in the bottle, the weight of each capsule or tablet and indications as to whether the medication should be taken with meals, before meals, after meals, with liquids, not in combination with certain products, refrigerated, and the like.
There is no specific order in which the information provided on the label must be displayed. As such, each pharmacy's label is different. This causes inconveniences when one person has multiple prescriptions, each filled at a different pharmacy. Although the patient might be familiar with a label from one pharmacy and know where to look on that label to find information about taking the medication, he or she would have to search for the same information on a label from a different pharmacy.
In addition, when generating forms for prescription labels, pharmacies often do not prioritize the information, i.e., create an order in which the information is to be printed, for example, based on relevancy.
Thus, in a significant number of current prescription labels, there is no hierarchy of importance of the information contained thereon. Rather, it is often the case that the information about the pharmacy, including its logo, if any, is the most prominently displayed information.
Another inconvenience for patients taking medication relates to warning stickers which are applied to the containers at the pharmacy. Such warning stickers generally have a standard form and some warning stickers are bright orange or red with black printing. When placed on the containers, it is difficult to read the warnings since the black type does not stand out against the bright colors of the warning stickers, i.e., there is not sufficient contrast. Moreover, the red and orange warning stickers do not stand out against amber containers which are used in some pharmacies.
Another possible inconvenience arises when the stickers are affixed to the container and inadvertently cover up a significant amount of text on the label. This creates a problem for patients to read the information printed on the labels. In addition, the warning sticker also becomes difficult to read.
From the warning stickers to the placement of text on the labels to the size of the type used on the labels, there is no consistency in the labeling of prescriptions. As such, important information regarding the use of a medication is often overlooked since there is no indication that such information is important or even critical to the use of the medication. It would therefore be advantageous to provide a prescription labeling system in which information is placed in the order of importance so that important information is placed before information of lesser importance and is therefore not susceptible to being overlooked.
Another problem with prior medication systems is that the medication containers are usually cylindrical in shape such that the label is wrapped around the entire bottle. In this manner, the information printed on the label is difficult to read since, in order to read all of the information, the bottle must be held and rotated. It would be advantageous if all of the information about the prescription on a bottle were to be visible to a patient without having to rotate the bottle.
After dispensing the proper medication, most pharmacies place the filled container in a paper bag with printed information about the prescription as well as additional information about the prescription such as the price. The bag itself is typically branded with the pharmacy's identity and possible advertisements. The bag also may include information about the fastest way to refill the medication. The customer receipt and prescription information page are attached to the bag. The prescription information page is often a sheet of paper about 8.5 inches by 12 inches, folded, with text on both sides. The text is small and laid out with around 26 words per line. The prescription information page is thus often disregarded in view of the sheer amount of text thereon and the relatively small type. Such presents a problem as the information on the prescription information page is extremely important as it describes various properties of the particular drug such as what it is, how to use it, side effects, precautions, drug interactions, overdose, missed dose and storage. Sometimes, this is the only form of communication the patient has with the pharmacist.